What Manner of Men?
t was Carlyle who championed the biographical approach to history arguing that great events were really just the story of great men. Greatness is an elusive quality; many aspire to it but few succeed Trudeau’s long hold on office and many accomplishments…
Canada in World Affairs 1971-1973
I haven’t read all the books written about the period while I was in the Cabinet. But I read this one as a former actor would read the review by a leading critic of his stage appearances years before – with some…
Interimco
The Interimco companies acknowledged their 13th birthday on ‘April Fool’s’ day this year. It has done so many things in such a broad range of commercial activities over the year, that those who ask – what is Interimco? (in spite of its…
La Banque africaine de développement
Au cours de sa dernière année financière, la Banque Mondiale, la plus grande source d’aide pour les pays en voie de développement, annonçait dans son rapport annuel des engagements de prêts et d’investissements pour elle-même et ses institutions affiliées pour un montant…
Freifeld On: “Wife of . . .”?
Ambassador to the United States, has written wittily about the ignominious fate of Washington wives who, however talented in their own right, become known simply as appendages of their illustrious husbands — “wife of” the Senator from, the Ambassador to, the Secretary…
Advice to Ambassadors
Recently the British made a change of ambassadors in Washington, moving as usual from one knight to another, to occupy the palatial residence on Massachusetts Avenue designed by the famous Sir Edwin Lutyens. The new man, Sir Antony Acland, is reported as…
Stitches and Time
Much like the weather, consular work in Thailand is typically hot and heavy. Complex, difficult cases, often punctuated by elements of the macabre or exotic, are frequent and exceptionally demanding, both personally and professionally. It was therefore with a profound sense of…
Herbert Norman
Born in Japan, the son of missionaries, Herbert Norman joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1939 and served in Tokyo, Wellington and Cairo, in the latter two posts as Canadian High Commissioner and Ambassador respectively. While posted to Cairo he commited suicide…
The Exam
As more than 4,000 Canadians sat down across the country and in Canadian consulates and embassies in various parts of the world on October 25, to write the foreign service exam, Bill Bottomley could heave a well-deserved sigh of relief.
The Young Bloods
Their enthusiasm runneth over. They treasure the experience of researching revisions to the Canadian widget export policy. They eagerly volunteer for prestigious assignments such as developing a left-handed architect exchange policy for the upcoming Canada-Ruritania Bilateral Commission. They all yearn to draft…
